Campus Alert Archive
Mines

A 6 p.m. Swatting Call to Jefferson County Put a STEM Campus in Golden on Three-Hour Shelter-in-Place With SWAT on Site

COswattingemergency notificationmedium confidence
Confirmed HoaxDetermined to be a hoax. The institutional response is documented because it reveals how the alert system performed under a perceived real threat.

On the evening of Saturday, October 14, 2023, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office received a call just after 6:00 p.m. MDT from someone claiming to be inside a Colorado School of Mines building making threats. Mines issued a shelter-in-place lookout alert shortly after 7:00 p.m. MDT. Mines Police, Golden Police, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and a regional SWAT team searched campus buildings. The shelter-in-place was lifted at 9:55 p.m. MDT, and the Sheriff's Office announced the next day that the call had been a swatting hoax.

Alerts
3
Response
—
Killed
0
Injured
0
Institution
Colorado School of Mines
Public R1 · CO
~7,700 studentsMines Alert
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

3 messages in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTSMS
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from FOX31 Denver's paraphrase of the 6:48 p.m. MDT Mines Alert; KDVR reports the alert named 'Thomas Hall at Maple Street and West Campus Road' and a 'large police presence'119 chars
Mines Alert: Avoid the area around Thomas Hall at Maple Street and West Campus Road. Large police presence in the area.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The first Mines Alert text went out at 6:48 p.m. MDT on October 14, 2023, naming Thomas Hall at the intersection of Maple Street and West Campus Road
Notably, this initial alert was an 'avoid the area' notice rather than a shelter-in-place — the shelter-in-place came in a follow-up alert sent shortly after 7:00 p.m.
FOX31 characterized this alert as a 'lookout alert' — Mines's framing for an active-search emergency notification
UPDATESMS
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from FOX31 Denver's paraphrase of the shortly-after-7-p.m. MDT Mines Alert; KDVR reports the alert directed students 'to shelter in place on campus, remain indoors, close blinds and stay away from windows'97 chars
Mines Alert: Shelter in place on campus. Remain indoors, close blinds and stay away from windows.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Sent shortly after 7:00 p.m. MDT, this alert escalated the response from 'avoid the area' to a campus-wide shelter-in-place
The instruction to 'close blinds' is unusual and reflects active-shooter protocol drawn from the Run-Hide-Fight framework
Mines, Golden Police, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and a regional SWAT team participated in the building-by-building search after this alert
ALL CLEARSMS+3h 7m
Approximate reconstructionReconstructed from 9News reporting that a Mines spokesperson confirmed the shelter-in-place was lifted at 9:55 p.m. MDT184 chars
Mines Alert: All clear. The shelter-in-place has been lifted. Police searched campus buildings and found no credible threat. Normal operations may resume. The investigation is ongoing.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

The shelter-in-place ran approximately three hours, from roughly 7:00 p.m. MDT to 9:55 p.m. MDT on October 14, 2023
Mines, Golden Police, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and a regional SWAT team participated in the building-by-building search
The Sheriff's Office announced the following day that the call was a swatting hoax — part of a broader pattern of swatting calls targeting US universities in late 2023
Context

Background

Colorado School of Mines is a public research university in Golden, Colorado, specializing in engineering and applied science with particular strengths in mining, petroleum, and earth sciences. Founded in 1874, it is one of the historic 'School of Mines' specialized STEM institutions in the United States. On the evening of Saturday, October 14, 2023, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office received a call just after 6 p.m. MDT from someone claiming to be inside a Mines building making threats. The campus issued a shelter-in-place via Mines Alert shortly after 7 p.m. MDT, and a multi-agency response — Mines Police, Golden Police, Jefferson County Sheriff's deputies, and regional SWAT — conducted a building-by-building search. No suspect or weapon was found. A Mines spokesperson confirmed the shelter-in-place was lifted at 9:55 p.m. MDT, and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office announced the next day that the call had been a swatting hoax. The case is significant for the campus alert archive because it documents the Mines Alert system operating in a STEM-specific campus context — Mines's compact 373-acre campus in Golden is densely built with engineering laboratories — and because the shelter-in-place was issued on a Saturday evening, when the campus alert population is small but unpredictable. Colorado School of Mines was later targeted again in September 2025 as part of a much larger national wave of college-campus swatting calls. The October 2023 incident was an early example of the pattern.
Analysis

Key Findings

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office received the swatting call just after 6 p.m. MDT and Mines issued the shelter-in-place approximately one hour later, after verification
The shelter-in-place was active for roughly three hours, ending at 9:55 p.m. MDT — a multi-hour duration consistent with a SWAT-led building-by-building search
Mines Police, Golden Police, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office, and a regional SWAT team participated in the response — a four-agency operation typical of mid-size suburban Colorado campuses
The October 14, 2023 incident was an early example of the swatting wave that later swept US college campuses in the fall of 2025
The case is distinct from Mines's [July 31, 2024 quarry fire and smoke event](https://www.mines.edu/), giving the archive coverage of two different emergency types at the same specialized STEM institution
Outcome
No suspect, weapon, or threat was found on campus. The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office determined the call was a swatting hoax and opened an investigation. No injuries were reported. The shelter-in-place lasted approximately three hours.
Provenance

Sources

  1. News
    Shelter in place at Colorado School of Mines lifted - FOX31 Denver
    kdvr.com
  2. News
    Shelter-in-place and closure order lifted at Colorado School of Mines campus - Colorado Community Media
    coloradocommunitymedia.com
  3. News
    School of Mines no longer under shelter-in-place order - 9News
    9news.com
  4. Official
    Mines Alert - Mines Emergency Management
    mines.edu
Tags
swattingstemengineeringschool-of-minescoloradogoldenshelter-in-placeswatsaturday-eveningpublic-r1Hoax
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion